A new website is boldly proclaiming that they are close to providing "The best thing to happen to Firefox... since Firefox." Allpeers is a peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing application that is apparently integrated directly into the popular web browser as a downloadable plugin.
No source code or downloadable files are available yet, but several screenshots have been posted on the Allpeers site. The application adds a new icon to the Firefox toolbar which opens a new side panel. From there, the user can share and trade files in a separate tab while still browsing in other tabs that have already been opened.
The application seems geared towards private sharing, where users share files with groups in their "Friends" list or other categories that can be created, rather than relying on a central database or server to find media. When new files become available from one of the users in a group, all members are alerted directly in their browsers. They can then choose to download the new files at their leisure.
The application claims to use Bittorrent as a distribution method and includes a complete Bittorrent client inside the browser.
If this application is for real, it may represent a significant step forward in the mainstreaming of P2P. Firefox is an extremely popular browser, and has recently reached ten percent marketshare by some estimates. Dell UK has even started bundling Firefox with some of its computers. If P2P is integrated into the browser, even as a downloadable plugin, it may quickly gain a customer base of millions of users.
Not only may this P2P application gain significant marketshare, it will be difficult for organizations such as the RIAA to shut down, as they have done with Grokster and are attempting to do with Kazaa. Because the application is geared towards private sharing, it will create millions of so-called "darknets" that do not easily show themselves to the outside world. Will this confound the RIAA, or will they apply pressure to the Allpeers corporation? Allpeers is a privately held company based in Oxford, UK with software development taking place in the Czech Republic. Right now it is all speculation, but when and if the Allpeers project is released, we will find out.
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